


wendigo

by Destiellover4



Series: the curse of being a winchester [2]
Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 03:01:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11637561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destiellover4/pseuds/Destiellover4





	wendigo

I needed to find out what happened to Jess but I’d been looking here for a week and I hadn’t found anything if I was going to find what killed Jess I would have to find dad first but I had to call Brady and tell him what the plan was. Sam, Dean and I had been staying in my apartment for the last week but now we had to go to Blackwater Ridge maybe we would find dad there I had to try. I called Brady but he didn’t answer so I left a message.

“Hey, Brady it's Emily. I just wanted to call and let you know I'm going to be out of town for a while I'm not sure how long, please call when you get this message,” I said.

I walked to the diner that Sam and Dean decided to go to for lunch. It was nice to get some fresh air and to relax by myself before I spent so much time in the car with my brothers. 

“Hey,” I said as I sat down. The walk had helped but I was still frustrated that I hadn’t found anything on what killed Jess. “I think we should head out and try to find dad.”

“I agree it doesn’t seem like there is anything to find let's go,” Dean said as he paid the check. “Emmie, are you gonna eat?” Dean asked with concern in his voice. “It’s been days I'm worried about you,” 

“Yeah, I probably should. I will grab stuff at the nearest Wendy's. Nothing here sounds good,” I said luckily the Wendy's was next door so I picked up a burger and made my way back to the Impala. 

“Good you have food can’t have you wasting away now can we,” Dean said with a smile trying to cheer me up. 

“Shut up, Dean,” I said smiling and shoving him playfully.“No I guess not,” I said looking sad 

“Hey, how far away is it?” Sam asked

“About 1,300 mi it should take us about 19 hours if we leave now but with my driving I bet I can half that,” Dean said as we got into the Impala. 

“Well the sooner we leave, the sooner we can find dad,” Sam said.

I agreed with Sam. Dean started the car to let her warm up it was cold for November in northern California so it was a good idea. I turned to Sam from my spot in the back seat. “I’m sorry, about Jess, Sam,” I said putting my hand on Sam’s shoulder to comfort him. I knew that He was having a harder time with the loss of Jess then I was. 

“It's ok, Em, you lost her too,” Sam said holding back his feelings in true Winchester fashion. 

Dad had really screwed up our lives 'I will never do that to my children' I thought to myself.   
We drove through the night and when I woke up I was brought to the realization of Not being at Stanford anymore. And as we got further and further away I was taken back... 

As we left Stanford, I was taken back to the day I left my family to come here. 

Dean had figured it out the day before I was planing on telling them because he pulled me aside and gave me a present. It was a small hand made jewelry box. It must have taken him all night to make it. There was an intricate designs on it, swirling lines that turned into the initials of our family members there was an M and text to the M was a J. Then there was a D under the M and J. Then under the D was two letters an S and an E. then on the front of the box was the letter W to stand for our last name. It was so beautiful I couldn't believe how much detail Dean had put into the box. Then I opened the lid. Inside the box was a charm bracelet. It was silver and had different chams I instantly recognised it. I looked at Dean with surprise in my eyes. 

“Dean, this was mom’s. I can’t…” I said. 

“It will keep you safe. Dad would want you to have it. He want’s you to be safe,” Dean said then pulling me into a hug whispered, “I want you to be safe,” he said kissing the top of my head. 

A tear rolled down my cheek. “I love you,” I said pulling away and looking up at my brother. 

“I know,” he said with a devilish smile but I could still see the pain in his eyes. 

“Thank you, Dean. Will you put it on for me?” I asked. 

“Sure thing, Emmie.” 

“I really do love it,” I said looking at all the different charms. “Every time I see it I will think of my family. And my big brother who has always been there to protect me.” 

From that moment on I knew Dean would always have my back. He was the one who made it possible for me to leave with Sam. I never forgot what he did for me and I still wore the charm bracelet. I still had the box as well i never was without it. 

I must have been daydreaming and not paying attention because Dean swered and that snapped me out of my memory and back to the back seat of the car.

“Hey, we are almost there,” Dean said just then Sam jerked awake he had been having nightmares about Jess all week not that I could blame him.

“Are you ok?” I asked

Sam glanced at me from the front seat. “Yeah Em, I'm fine just stuff with Jess. I'm surprised you haven’t had any,” Sam said with concern in his voice. 

“I'm fine dealing. I will be better when we kill the son of a bitch that did this to us,” I said. 

“Do you wanna drive for a while?” Dean asked Sam. 'Woah Dean was very protective of his baby, he never let anyone drive.’ I thought to myself. 

“Dean you have never once in your life asked me that,” Sam said.

“I just thought you might want to. Never mind,” Dean said. “Look, man, you are worrying me." 

"Thank you, but I'm really ok,” Sam said. Sam reached into the backseat and grabbed the map from my hands. 

“ Hey!” I said, giving Sam, a dirty look. "I was reading that." 

“Sorry Em, so um where are we?” Sam asked.

“We are just outside of grand junction,” Dean replied. Sam folded up the map and handed it back to me. 

“Maybe we should have stayed at Stanford longer,” Sam said. I could tell that he was wishing for some sort of closure.

“Sam we stuck around for a whole week there was nothing that Dean or I could find. If we want to find the thing that killed Jess we have to find dad first,” I said. 

“Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after 20 years it's no coincidence,” Dean pointed out. 

“Dad will have answers, he’ll know what to do,” I said to Sam reassuringly.

“How are you so much smarter than me,” Sam asked with half a smile.

“It's a gift,” I said smiling while trying to bury my pain deep inside just like a true Winchester 

“It's weird, the coordinates he left us this blackwater ridge,” Sam said.

“What about it?” Dean asked.

“There is nothing there. It's just woods why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere” Sam asked as we pass the sign for Lost Creek National Forest.

We park the car at the ranger's station

“So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote, It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place,” I say as we walk into the station

“Dude, check out the size of this fricking bear,” Dean tells us impressed I glance over and roll my eyes, of course, that is what Dean pays attention to.

“And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area.” Sam continued. 

“ Oh that’s gonna be fun,” I said sarcastically. 

Just then a ranger comes up to us. “You aren’t planning to go up near Blackwater Ridge by any chance are you,” He asked

“Oh, no, sir. We're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper.” Sam lied. Sam was always so much better at coming up with lies than me. 

I smile a little bit raising my fist in the air. “Recycle man,” I said in my best imitation of Dean I could muster.

“Bull,” The Ranger said, “You’re friends with that Haley girl aren’t you?” 

“Yes, we are ranger… Wilkinson” I said putting on my sweetest smile. 

“Well, I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing person now, is it?” he asked. 

“No, it isn't,” I said half to myself crossing my arms across my chest. 

“You tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother is fine,” Wilkinson said. 

“I will. That Haley girl is quite a pistol huh?” Dean asked

“That is putting it mildly,” The ranger commented

“You know what would help is if we would get a copy of that backcountry permit to show Haley to put her mind at rest.” dean said hoping that the ranger would take pity 

“Alright, but no one can know about this do you understand?” the ranger asked

“Of course, thank you for helping us out Ranger,” I said convincing him

As we walked outside I saw Dean smile. Sam must have noticed too. 

“What are you cruising for a hookup or something?” Sam asked.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked. 

“The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?” Sam asked. 

“Gee I don’t know maybe we want to know what we are walking into before we actually walk into it,” Dean said a little annoyed. 

“And plus if it were me or Dean wouldn’t you do anything in your power to find us?” I asked Sam. Agreeing with Dean on going to get more information. 

“You know I would. Okay let's go,” Sam said as we got into the Impala. 

We drove to Haley's house to hopefully get more information on whatever the hell we were dealing with.

“Alright who are we going with today,” I ask

“Park Rangers. It's probably gonna be the easiest” Dean answers as we hop out of the car

We went to the front door and knocked. A woman answered and Dean took the Lead. “You must be Haley Collins, I'm Dean this is Sam and Emily we are rangers for the park service. ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy,” Dean said smoothly he really was good at this. 

Haley seemed nervous. “Can I see some i.d.?” She asked. 

“Of course,” Dean answered as we flashed our badges. 

“Come on in,” Haley said politely as she saw the Impala “Is that yours?” She asked looking impressed. 

“Yeah,” Dean said proudly. Typical Dean his greatest love was and will always be his baby.

“Nice car,” Haley says as she led us to the kitchen.  
We continue to ask the standard questions. “So if Tommy isn’t due back for a while how do you know something is wrong?” I asked genuinely caring for this poor girl. There was a reason that Dad sent us here. 

“He checks in every day, he emails photos, stupid little videos but we haven’t heard anything in over three days now.” Haley explained. 

“Well maybe he can’t get cell reception.” Sam pointed out. 

“He's got a satellite phone too,” Haley said

“Could it be he was having too much fun and forgot to check in,” Dean asked.

“He wouldn’t do that!” Haley's little brother Ben said. Dean looked at Ben curiously but Ben avoided Dean’s eyes.

“Our parents are gone. It’s just my two brothers and me we all keep pretty close tabs on each other,” Haley said.

“Can I see the pictures he sent you?” I asked. 

Haley went over to her laptop and pulled up the pictures that Tommy had sent her three days before.

“That’s Tommy” Haley pointed to the guy in the middle of the picture.

We watched the video on the laptop. “Hey, Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow,” video stopped. I noticed that there was a flickering in the background.

“We are gonna find your brother. We are heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing,” Dean said.

“Well, maybe I'll see you there. look I can’t stick around here anymore.So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself,” Haley said.

“I think I know how you feel. I’d do anything for my brothers too,” I said sympatrically.

“Hey can you forward these pictures to me?” I asked.

“Sure,” Haley says. 

“That should be all we need,” I said.   
We headed to a local bar to discuss what we were going to do next. “So do we have any idea what we are gonna do. Any ideas what’s wrong?” I asked Sam, he was always better at research than I was.

“So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found.” Sam said as he looked at dad’s journal 

“Any before that?” Dean asked 

Sam pulled out the articles for Dean and me to look at. “Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack.” Sam pointed to a few other articles as well.

The headline read ‘The Lost Creek Gazette’ Up to eight campers go missing in the woods, with no trace to be found. Families continue to search and rescue efforts in spite of disappointing. ‘Interesting,’ I thought to myself. 

Sam pulled out his laptop and found other articles online. He read one of the articles aloud for us. “And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936,” Sam said as he pulled up the video of Tommy Collins. “Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out,”. Sam said as he started the video. Sam went through the video frame by frame. Going three frames at a time while a shadow crosses the screen.

“Do it again” Dean said. 

Sam did as Dean asked and played the clip again. There was a dark movement behind Tommy. 

“What in the world?” I asked looking at the screen. 

“That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move.” Sam said. 

Dean hit Sam on the shoulder and both Sam and I look over at Dean. “I told you there was something going on.” He pointed out smugly.

“Yep,” I said nodding in agreement with Dean. 

“Oh, one more thing,” Sam said pointing to the article that I was still holding. 

 

“In '59 one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive,” Sam said.

“Do we have a name?” I asked

“Yup this name is Tom Shaw,” He answered.

“Alright let’s go,” I said ready to hunt.

We headed over to Mr. Shaw’s house to find out in his own words what happened that night in 1959. We were driving when Sam looked at me with concern. 

“Em, you need to stay at the hotel, while we hunt this thing,” Sam said.

“Like hell I am, I'm coming. Try and stop me but remember I am just as strong as the two of you,” I said.

“Emily, come on,” Sam said. 

“Is this how it’s going to be on every hunt we go on. Because if it is then I will go off on my own and look for dad myself,” I said threatening to leave again. 

“Sam, she’s right. She is a damn good hunter and she knows how to take care of herself. We will stay together as a family,” Dean said.

“Ok, fine but you have to be careful promise me Em,” Sam said. 

“Alright. I promise, “ I said. I understood my brothers concern. I was pregnant so I knew that I would have to be careful but I still wanted to help with this hunt. 

“Cmon we are here,” Dean said parking the car.

We all walked over to the house and I knock on the door. He opened it. 

“Hi Mr. Shaw I'm Emily and this is Sam and Dean. We are with the park service can we ask you a few questions?“ I asked.

“Sure what do you want to know?” Shaw asked in a low voice

“We need to know about the attack you survived when you were a kid,” I said.

“Look, Ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this. It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—” He started 

“By a grizzly. Is that what attacked them?” I asked.

“The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?” Dean asked as we all stayed silent for a moment.Then Dean continued. “What about all the people that went missing this year; Same thing?” 

“If we knew what we were dealing with we might be able to stop it,” I said as kindly as I could. “We could save lives.” 

“I seriously doubt that, anyway, I don’t know what difference it would make,” Shaw said as he sat down in the recliner. “You wouldn’t believe nobody ever did,” he said with a kind of sorrow in his voice which made me feel sorry for him.

“Mr. Shaw, what did you see?” I asked. I had always been good at getting people to open up and tell us what we needed to know. 

“Nothing. It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like… no man or animal I ever heard,” He said, you could hear the fear in his voice as he spoke 

“It came at night?” I asked Shaw nodded.

“Got inside your tent?” Sam asked adding to my question. 

“It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up till I heard my parents screaming.” Shaw said his voice shaking.

“It killed them?” I asked

“Yes, it dragged them off into the night,” Shaw said. “Why it left me alive… been asking myself that ever since,” Shaw said. “Did leave me this, though,” Shaw said revealing a claw like scar from his neck to his chest. I gasped in surprise at how huge it was. “There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon,” Shaw said. 

“Thank you, Mr. Shaw; that is all we need for now,” I said politely 

We left Mr. Shaw's house and made our back to the motel.

“Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. If they want inside, they just go through the walls.” Sam said matter of factly.

“Ok, so what is it?” I asked

“It's probably something else, something corporeal.” Sam said.

“Corporeal? Excuse me, professor,” I said teasing my brother he had always been such a book worm. 

“Shut your face” Sam retorted. 

“The claws, the speed that it moves… could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature, and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it.” Dean said.

“We should talk about this in the morning. We should get some rest,” I said yawning. Sam and Dean both laugh at me. “Screw you both, I am tired and this baby inside of me isn’t helping.” I said crossing my arms over my chest trying to be serious but I couldn’t hide the smile on my face.

“She is right, we should discuss what we need to do tomorrow c'mon,” Dean said as we walked out to the car. 

We started to head to the hotel when Sam spoke up. “We cannot let that Haley girl go out there.” Sam said.

“Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her? That she can't go into the woods because of a big scary monster?” I asked half sarcastically half serious. 

“Yeah.” Sam answered.

“Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend.” Dean points out to Sam who clearly wasn’t thinking straight.

“Finding Dad's not enough?” Sam said clearly annoyed. “Now we gotta babysit too?”

We got to the hotel I got out without a word and opened the trunk grabbing my duffle full of weapons and slammed the trunk shut.

“What?” Sam asked almost yelling at me.

“Nothing, alright I’m going to get some sleep.” I said. 

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wanted to find dad so that I could get back to my normal life but I also wanted to help save people and kill this son of a bitch. It was the place I always seemed to end up. I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night. I kept dreaming about Jess I got maybe 2 hours of sleep. We woke up and headed straight to Blackwater Ridge. It took us a little over 30 minutes We got there and saw Haley, Ben and another man who I could only assume was their guid. 

“You got room for three more?” Dean asked. 

“Wait. You want to come with us?” Haley asked.

“Who are these guys?” Roy asked. 

“Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue,” Haley said. 

“You’re rangers? ” Roy asked. 

“Yeah we are” I said putting my hands on my hips. I instantly didn’t like this guy. 

“And you are hiking out in biker boots and jeans?” Haley asked looking at Dean

“Well, sweetheart, I don’t do shorts,” Dean replied with a smile. 

“Smartass,” I whisper under my breath. 

“What, you think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt,” Roy said a little angry.

“Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. We just wanna help them find their brother, that's all,” Dean said. 

We walked further into the forest. “Roy, you said ‘you did a little hunting’.” Dean said trying to make this walk a little less awkward. 

“Yeah more than a little, “ replied Roy.

“Uh-uh so tell what kind of furry creatures did you hunt?” Dean asked. 

“Mostly buck sometimes bear,” roy replied.

I walk past Roy and Dean. 

“So um does Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?” I asked casually. Roy yanks me back by the collar of my shirt.

“What are you doing, Roy?” Dean asked getting ready to pick a fight I look at him telling him to let it go . Roy then took stick and shoved it in the ground where a bear trap was. ‘God, I hate the woods.’ I thought to myself. 

“You should watch where you are stepping, rangers,” Roy said with a slight smile on his face as he dropped the stick. Dean and I went up to Haley and we started walking beside her.

“Hey,” I said sweetly. 

“You didn't pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a duffel bag. You're not rangers.” Haley said as she grabbed my arm. “So who the hell are you?” Haley asked getting angry.

I nodded to my brother telling them to go ahead while I talked to Haley Dean listened to me let me tell Haley the truth.

“Sam and Dean are my brothers. We are here looking for our father. He might be here we don’t know but I figured we are in the same boat,” I said being honest with her

“Why didn’t you just tell me that from the start,” Haley asked seeming to calm down.

“Well, I’m telling you now, besides that is probably the most honest I’ve been with anyone outside my family, like ever,” I replied. 

“Yeah, ok,” Haley said seeming convinced. 

“And what you mean we didn’t provisions?” I asked picking up a bag of M&Ms out of my duffel 

We went to catch up to the group. We kept walking for about a half hour but kept talking as we got further into the forest. 

“This is it. Blackwater Ridge,” Roy said.

“What coordinates are we at?” I asked. 

“35 and -111,” Roy said. 

This is where dad wanted us to go . Dean and Sam walk up to me. 

“Do you hear that,” Dean asked. 

“What i don’t hear anything,” I said confused. 

“Exactly, not even crickets,” Sam said.

“That’s not good,” I said as we sent up camp.

“I’m going to take a look around,” Roy announced. 

“You shouldn’t go by yourself,” I said looking up from what I was doing. 

“That’s sweet don’t worry about me, sweetheart,” Roy said. 

“That’s my job. I worry about people,” I said under my breath as Roy grabbed his gun and started looking around. We all decided that we would go look around. We were gone for ten minutes and when we got back to the whole campsite, everything was ruined.

“Looks like a grizzly,” Roy said. 

‘Ha, ain’t no grizzly that's for damn sure,’ I thought to myself but I wasn’t sure what it was so I stayed quiet. Sam and I ran to catch up with Haley

“Tommy!” Haley called out for her brother.

“Ssh,” Sam said. 

“Tommy!” Haley called again only louder. 

“Ssssh,” Sam said again grabbing her by her shoulders so that she would be quiet. 

“Why?” Haley asked. 

“Something might be out there still,” Sam said quietly. 

“The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That's weird,” Dean said.

“You’re right it’s weird. So it’s no skinwalker or black dog,” I said.

Haley picks up Tommy's bloody phone and then looked around franticly. 

“Hey he could still be alive,” I said comforting her. 

“Help! Help!” someone yelled. We all run off to find the person the voice belongs to.

“Help! Somebody!” the voice calls but there wasn’t anyone there

“It seemed like it was coming from around here didn’t it?” Haley asked.

“Everyone get back to camp” Sam said. 

We all went back to the campsite and we were met with an empty campsite. 

“Where is everything?” I asked. 

“It’s smart, Em. It wants us stranded so we can’t call for help,” Sam said.

“You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear.” Roy corrected Sam.

Sam and I walked over to Dean “We need to talk. In private,” I said.

We get out of earshot. 

“Let me see dad’s journal” Sam said to me.

“What are you looking for?” I asked going through my duffle and handing him dad’s journal. 

“Here we go, check it out” Sam said. Dean took the journal from Sam. 

“Oh come on, wendigos are in the Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west,” Dean said. 

“Think about it Dean. the claws, the way it can mimic a human voice,” Sam said pointing out all the obvious clues. 

“Great. Then our weapons are useless,” I said as we headed back to the campsite. Once we got there Sam addressed the group.

“All right, listen up, it's time to go. Things have gotten… more complicated,” Sam said.

“What?” Haley asked. 

“Kid don't worry whatever is out there I think I can handle it,” Roy said to Sam

“It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing, you're just gonna make it mad. We have to leave. Now,” Sam said. 

“One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to give anybody orders,” Roy said.

This wasn’t good. Sam was getting angry. Sam had always had a temper problem from the time we kids. 

“Relax, Sam,” I said. 

“We never should have let you come out here in the first place, all right? I'm trying to protect you” Sam said getting even more upset. 

Roy stepped closer to Sam and I took a step in between them. 

“You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight.” Roy said sounding offended. 

“Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you, and it's gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here.” Sam pointed out. Sam was right and Dean and I knew it. 

“You know you are crazy right” Roy said laughing in Sam’s face. ‘Oh god that was stupid.’ I thought to myself. The last person to do that ended up with two black eyes and a broken nose. 

“Yeah? You ever hunt a Wen—” Sam started to say, but I cut him off. 

“Sam ” I said in a warning tone. 

“Stop. Stop it. Everybody just stop. Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him,” Haley said. 

“Cmon, Sam wouldn’t you do the same if it were me missing?” I asked him.

“Of course I would,” Sam answered without question.

“It's getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves,” I said matter of factly. 

“How?” Haley asked. 

We built a campfire and made a semicircle with our things. Dean had dad’s journal and was writing symbols on the ground for protection. 

“One more time, that's—?” Haley asked.

“Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The Wendigo can't cross over them,” Dean said. 

Roy laughed. ‘Ugh this guy is such an ass,’ I thought to myself. He was really starting to get on my nerves.

“Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy.” I said turning to him.

Dean and I walked over to where Sam was on the other side of the semicircle. 

“You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?” Dean asked Sam as we sat down.

“Dean, I’m -” Sam started to say.

“No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man, it's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?” Dean pointed out in a worried tone. 

“Dean’s right, Sam. I’m worried about you,” I said turning to my brother. 

“Dad's not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?” Sam asked dodging Dean and my inquiries. 

“Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek,” Dean said

“Then let's get these people back to town and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean, why are we still even here?” Sam asked both of us. ‘hell if I know,’ I thought to myself. 

“This is why,” Dean said pointing to dad’s journal. “This book. This is Dad's single most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business,” There was an emphasis on the last sentence. It gave me a sense of hope remembering just how much dad pushed us to save people who needed help. I may not agree with my dad on a lot of things but saving people from the monsters and killing them was one I agreed with no matter what. 

“That makes no sense. Why doesn't he just—call us? Why doesn't he—tell us what he wants, tell us where he is?” Sam asked a cross between angry and confused.

“I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad's giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it,” Dean said. 

Dean never thought dad could do any wrong. I was that way until I was a teenager. 

“Dean...no. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about,” Sam said.

“Okay, all right, Sam, we'll find them, I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man” Dean said worried. 

“Sam, Dean is right you can’t do this alone you have to let us help you. Please let me in,” I pleaded with Sam taking his hand. 

“What do you know about it?” Sam almost yelled in my face pulling his hand from mine. 

“I lost her too Sam you are not the only one who gets to miss her. She was my best friend first. I introduced her to you, you asshole!” I yelled at Sam angry and fed up with his shit.

He shook his head and then looked at his hands. I could tell he was embarrassed that he had been such an ass to me yelling about Jess. Then he looked in between Dean and me. “How do you do it? How does Dad do it?” Sam asked. 

“Well for one, them,” Dean said looking at Haley and Ben. “I mean, I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable” ‘Yeah we are screwed to hell,’ I thought. “I will tell you what else helps,” Dean said looking at Sam.“Killing as many sons of bitches as i possible can,” That made Sam smile. 

“Help!” A voice screamed from the darkness of the woods. 

“He's trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put,” I said trying to keep the others calm. 

“Help! Help me!” It yelled with a growl 

“Ok that’s no grizzly,” Roy said pointing his gun at the sound. 

“It’s ok you’ll be alright” Haley said to Ben 

Something brushed by us and Haley screamed

“It’s here” I said confidently. Roy shot at it. ‘Fuck me! This asshat is going to get us all killed,’ I thought to myself. 

“I hit it!” Roy said running after the creature. 

“Roy no!” I yelled, but he ran after it anyway.

“Don't move,” Dean said to Haley and Ben. Sam and I run after Roy. 

“It's over here! It's in the tree!”Roy yelled. 

“Roy!” I yelled

“I don't...I mean, these types of things, they aren't supposed to be real,” Haley said not wanting to believe. 

“I wish I could tell you different,” Dean said trying to reassure her.

“How do we know it's not out there watching us?” Haley asked us.

“Well we don’t, but for now we are safe.” I said sure that as long as we were inside the protection symbols we would be safe. 

“How do you know about this stuff?” Haley asked.

“Kindof runs in our family,” Dean said. 

Sam walked over us. “Hey,” He said. “So we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch,” he was dead set on it. 

“Well, hell you know we are in,” I said gesturing to Dean. We sat Haley and Ben down and we discussed the lore on Wendigo. “'Wendigo' is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours',” I explained. 

“They're hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter,” Dean continued.

“How does a person turn into one of those things?” Haley asked.

“Well, it's always the same. During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp,” Dean said. 

“Like the donner party .” Ben said

“Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality,” I told them.

“If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You're always hungry,” Dean explained.

“So if it’s true how is Tommy still be alive?” Haley asked.

“You are not gonna like it,” Dean said.

“Tell me,” Haley demanded. 

“More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it's awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother's alive, it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there.” I told Haley 

“Then how are we gonna stop it?” Haley asked

“Well, guns are useless and so are knives,” Dean said as he held up the can of lighter fluid, a beer bottle, and a white cloth he'd picked up. “Basically we gotta torch his sucker,”

Dean led us through the woods. We had been walking for almost a half hour. 

“Dean” I said standing next to Sam who had stopped to look at a tree. 

“What is it?” Dean asked. The tree in front of us was all marked up with scratches on the bark there was also blood on the branches above us. 

“You know, I was thinking, those claw prints, so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow.” Sam said. 

As soon as Sam stopped talking there was the sound of growling. We turned around and see Haley standing under a tree blood drips on her shirt she looked up and jumped out of the way as Roy’s dead body dropped where she had been standing

“Are you ok?” I asked Haley 

“Yeah. Fine,” She answered. 

“Emmie, his neck is broken,” Dean said. I went to help Haley up as the growling got more intense.

“Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!” Dean yelled as everyone scattered. 

Sam was ahead of me running for his life. I was right on his tail when Ben tripped and fell, I pick him up and we kept running. “Cmon I got you” I said. We then heard screams coming from behind us. 

“Dean? Dean! Where are you?!” I yelled half screaming and half questioning.

“If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?” Ben asked. ‘Hmm good question this is a smart kid. He would make a great hunter.’ I thought to myself. 

“Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it, pissed it off,” Sam said. 

I was having a hard time I felt like I couldn’t breath. It was as if losing Dean made me feel lost and scared as if I was a child again.

“Em? Are you ok?” Sam asked.

I was able to catch my breathe and to clear my brain starting to go back to normal thinking about the job and saving Dean and Haley. “Yeah i’m fine just worried about Dean,” I said 

“Yeah me too,” Sam answered.

“Hey look,” I said seeing a trail of m&ms that Dean had. Even though Sam and I were twins I wasnt the health nut like he was. I shared eating habits with my older brother. 

“Ha, better than bread crumbs,” Sam said with half a smile on his face. 

We followed the trail until we got to a mine and we headed inside to find Dean and Haley. We entered the mine and a few minutes in the Wendigo came toward us. Ben was about to scream but I put my hand over his mouth. I closed my eyes and hoped that the Wendigo wouldn’t come toward us. But amazingly luck was on our side because the Wendigo went down a different hallway. We went down the same hallway that the Wendigo came from and we found Dean, Haley, and Tommy tied up. I ran to Dean. 

“Dean!” I called. 

“Haley, wake up!” Ben calls to his sister standing next to her. 

“Dean!” I yelled shaking Dean until his eyes popped open. “Hey, are you ok?” I asked with worry in my voice

“Yeah “ Dean answered. 

Sam cut Dean down while Ben took care of Haley. 

“You sure you're all right?” Sam asked Dean with concern in his voice 

“Yeah i’m fine, where is it?” Dean asked. 

“Gone for now,” I answered. 

“Tommy?“ Haley called quietly and his head jerks up. “Cut him down!” Haley said sternly. I cut him down and Haley caught him so that he wouldn’t fall. 

“We are gonna get you home,” Haley promised her brother. 

“Check it out.” Dean said pointing to the stolen guns and weapons in the corner.

“Flare guns. Those'll work.” Sam said with a half smile on his face. 

Sam, Dean, and I picked up one of the flair guns and we headed down the tunnel to get out of the mine. We turned a corner and the Wendigo started to growl again. 

“Looks like someone's home for supper,” I pointed out. 

“We'll never outrun it,” Haley said with fear in her voice. 

“You thinking what I am?” Dean asked Sam 

“Yup,” Sam answered. 

“All right, listen to me. Stay with Sam. He's gonna get you out of here,” Dean said. 

“What are you gonna do?” I asked. I hated when they kept me out of the loop. ‘This is the last time that I am going to let them keep me in the dark,’ I thought to myself. Dean just turned a ran a few feet down the hallway and started yelling.

“Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good” Dean said. I couldn’t hear everything else he yelled as he kept going down the hall. 

“All right, come on! Hurry!” Sam said avoiding my eyes. 

“Hey, you want some white meat, bitch! I'm right here!” I heard Dean say. ‘Perfect time to joke about a job. Cocky bastard,’ I thought to myself. Then we were trapped we were either going to have to head back to where we came from or head for where the Wendigo we coming at us. 

Sam turned to me. “Get him outta here,” Sam said looking at me. 

“Sam, no!” I said. 

“Em, please. Just do it. Don’t fight me on this.” Sam said pleading with me. 

“Come on, Haley!” Ben called going further down the tunnel. 

“Come on. Come on.” Sam said running through the tunnel. He turned and shot his flair gun but I couldn’t see what was happening. He ran back to us. 

“Sam!” I yelled. 

“I’m ok,” Sam answered. “Get behind me,” 

We all got behind him I held my gun and pointed it in the direction that the Wendigo came at us. Dean came up behind the Wendigo and yelled getting its attention. He shot his flair gun and hit it right in the chest. The Wendigo burst into flames and I crashed against the wall trying to catch my breath as well as let my adrenalin come down. 

“We should make our way back,” I said getting up off of the wall. 

We all walked back to the cars in silence. We called the police and emergency crews. Before they got to us I debriefed Tommy, Haley and Ben. 

“Ok so you know the story right?” I asked wanting to make sure that even though they knew the truth they had to lie just so that they could live normal lives

“Yes, don’t worry,” Haley answered wanting to take care of her brother. I understood her worry but I also was kind of annoyed. 

The police and ambulance came. They took care of all of us and we all had to answer their questions. 

“And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?” Asked the police officer. 

“That's when it circled the campsite. I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds,” Ben replied. ‘Good lier. He could do well in this life,’ I thought again. 

“Alright we will head out first thing in the morning,” the officer said. 

I was sitting on the hood of the Impala watching Dean flirt with Haley. It made me smile and disapprove at the same time. She kissed his cheek and then Sam and Dean walked over to me. 

“Get off of my car,” Dean said.   
I just rolled my eyes and slid off of the hood. “I hate camping,” I said. 

“Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?” Dean said. 

“Yeah i know, but in the meantime, I’m driving,” Sam said. 

That made me laugh, I loved this car but after I crashed my first car on a solo hunt I wasn’t aloud to drive the Impala. I got into the backseat and as Sam started the engine. 

“Where should we go next?” Sam asked. 

“We should head east and look for work,” I said as we headed down the highway.


End file.
